Caesarean birth 'boosts asthma risk'

Children born by caesarean section are more prone to asthma than those delivered naturally, research claims.

A report published in the journal Thorax today found that by the time children were eight years old those who had been born by caesarean section were 80 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with the respiratory condition.

In a survey of almost 3,000 children, the connection between caesareans and asthma was even stronger for the nine per cent of children with two allergic parents.

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They were almost three times more likely to be asthmatic by the time they were eight compared with children whose parents were not allergic, who were around 36 per cent more likely to have this diagnosis.

The authors of the report claim that the link between caesarean sections and an increase of asthma may lie in the timing of the priming of the immune system, as caesarean delivery delays exposure to microbes.

'The increased rate of caesarean section is partly due to maternal demand without medical reason,' they claim.

'In this situation the mother should be informed of the risk of asthma for her child, especially when the parents have a history of allergy or asthma.'

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